Talk of a Jake Plummer-to-Houston trade is reportedly "heating up."
He'd reportedly be viewed as an immediate replacement for David Carr with the Texans, who are considered the favorites to get him. Tampa and Jacksonville are also mentioned as possible landing spots. Plummer and new Jags OC Dirk Koetter are considered mutual admirers.

Pass on Vince Young so that you can pay David Carr to backup Jake Plummer?

They signed Carr to an extension last off season rather than draft Vince. I doubt they would take the cap hit to release him in any fashion. I also doubt they would want to pay that much for a backup by getting Jake.

I'd let him stay on the bench in Houston until his release is not a big cap hit. Then sign him. A change of venue might help his career. Ala Jim Plunkett. By then we will know what we have in Croyle too.

HONOLULU -- In a move that could augur the selection of Southern California tailback Reggie Bush as the first overall pick in the 2006 draft, league sources here for the Pro Bowl confirmed late Thursday that the Houston Texans have exercised a "buy back" clause in quarterback David Carr's contract, paying him an $8 million bonus to secure his services for three more seasons.

The Texans announced the extension Friday in a news release.

Retaining the four-year veteran quarterback, who would have become eligible for unrestricted free agency had the Texans not exercised the option, makes it highly unlikely that Houston will choose Texas quarterback Vince Young with the top pick in the draft April 29.

Under the terms of the complicated seven-year, $46.75 million contract Carr signed as a rookie, the final three seasons of the deal were voidable. Early in his career, Carr reached sufficient performance levels to cancel those three years, and technically, his contract would have expired on March 3, the first day of free agency.

But the Texans had the right to "buy back" the voidable years and had two options for doing so. The first would have involved paying Carr a bonus of $5.5 million to buy back two seasons, at base salaries of $5 million for 2006 and $5.25 million for 2007. The second, the deal for which Houston opted, included the $8 million bonus, which bought back three seasons, at base salaries of $5.25 million each in 2006 and 2007 and of $6 million in 2008.

At one point during the season, Houston officials considered the possibility of exercising the two-year option. The Texans also reviewed which NFL franchises might need a quarterback of starting caliber in the next few years, in the event they decided to trade Carr.

They have never come close, however, to putting Carr on the market.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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"I like Chiefs president Carl Peterson. I respect his business savvy. I envy his management skills and his penchant never to be driven by the whims of popularity. I admire his willingness to take responsibility for decisions that don’t work out the way he would have wanted."